The Atheist Experience


The Atheist Experience is an American live, weekly televised webcast based in Austin, Texas. Listeners—theists and atheists alike—are encouraged to call in to discuss the existence of God and related topics. Calls from theists are usually given priority, as the aim of the webcast is to encourage theists to question their theistic beliefs and unshackle themselves from their religious faith - as such, theists are often asked to explain what they believe, and why. Following the webcast, each episode is made available on YouTube, as well as in an audio-only podcast format.
The Atheist Experience is a production of the Atheist Community of Austin, an educational non-profit organization based in Austin, Texas, which has as a central goal the promotion of positive atheism and the separation of church and state.

History

In April 1996, a woman named Kellen Von Houser took the initiative of forming a group for atheists in the Austin area by e-mailing local atheists. After several informal monthly gatherings, the Atheist Community of Austin was formally founded on December 15, 1996, by which time it had attracted around 60 members. By June 1997, the ACA had its own website, a relatively new medium at the time, to reach out to fellow atheists on the internet. The first episode of The Atheist Experience, a pre-recorded pilot, aired on October 19, 1997.
From the second show onward, the episodes were broadcast live on cable access television on every other Sunday, giving the opportunity to viewers to call the show live. Initially the show's length was one half-hour. Ray Blevins was the show's first host, while Joe Zamecki served as the first co-host.
The show length was extended to an hour in September 1998. From December 1999 on, The Atheist Experience began streaming over the Internet, enabling anyone around the world with Internet access to watch. Since November 2005, The Atheist Experience has also been distributed as a podcast to a global audience.
A YouTube channel, which became the official channel in August 2012, has over 306,000 subscribers and over 98 million video views as of December 2019. On June 24, 2018 the show aired its 1000th episode.
The first episode was recorded at Furr's Cafeteria in October 1997. Subsequent episodes were recorded at the public-access television studio at Austin Public. After 18 years, long-standing logistical and technical issues at the public access studio prompted the crew to move to the ACA's Freethought Library in October 2015.
The Atheist Experience's success has spawned several spin-off shows also produced by the ACA; as of July 2018, these were The Non-Prophets Radio podcast, the Talk Heathen talk show, the Godless Bitches podcast and The Preaching Humanist television show. In December 2018, the new Secular Sexuality live show was launched.

Funding

The show is co-financed through donations to the Atheist Community of Austin's general fund, and since May 2018 through Patreon.

Show details

Purposes

The primary purpose of The Atheist Experience is to have a discussion or debate on the existence of gods or related topics between theist callers and the atheist hosts and co-hosts. The Atheist Experience is therefore primarily geared towards a non-atheist audience, and tends to foster confrontational debates. Moreover, the conversations are intended for theists to hear from atheists themselves, rather than from other theists, what atheists actually believe. Another goal is to familiarize the show's audience with relevant arguments and effective debating tactics.

Theme song

The opening theme used for The Atheist Experience has changed over the years; in some cases due to copyright issues. From August 2009 to August 2015, the theme song was Bryan Steeksma's "Listen to Reason". Following that, Shelley Segal's "Saved" has been used.

Topics

Although debates about all theism- and atheism-related views are welcome, because of the large number of Christians in the United States and their influence in American politics and society, the emphasis is mostly on Christianity. Frequent topics include religious dogma, morality, ethics and application of the scientific method.

Format

The host and co-host are filmed sitting behind a table. There may also be off-camera spectators in the studio. After the opening sequence featuring the theme song, the co-host often opens with a theme or current event discussion, and then the host takes live calls. Callers are put in a waiting queue and screened by the crew before they are put into direct contact with the host and co-host. Although atheists are also allowed to call in, the crew attempts to have at least 50% theists callers. The host has a control panel, which allows them to put a caller temporarily "on hold" in order to clarify a point or address a technical issue, or disconnect a caller who in the host's judgment has been overly rude or has frustrated the discussion.
Some callers hold negative stereotypes about atheists, or misconceptions about atheism and science, and occasionally verbally abuse the hosts, or atheists in general. At times, the hosts reply in kind, or even initiate verbal abuse or mockery of the religious beliefs which a caller may hold. However, friendly and respectful conversations also frequently take place, and are preferred. Author Yuriy Nikshych wrote that The Atheist Experience is "worth watching to get a sense of how to talk to theists", and said it was an "invaluable resource" for people in the process of losing their religious beliefs to become atheists.

Presenters

Current

;Host:
;Co-host:
In June 2019, Tracie Harris, Jen Peeples, John Iacoletti, and Phil Session left the show after a disagreement with the ACA's handling of a guest host who made a controversial video on trans women athletes.

Notable guest appearances

Occasionally, a notable scientist, scholar or activist is invited to take the role of co-host on the show; after an interview with the host, the guest participates in answering calls. These have included:
Since its launch on July 29, 2014, The Atheist Experience has been affiliated with AtheistTV, the world's first atheism-dedicated television channel. Distributed through the Roku streaming television network, and available through online streaming through the American Atheists webpage, Atheist TV's playlists and programming include recent episodes of The Atheist Experience.

Awards